Insufficient Justification for Removing Inmate from Hearing

The Third Department reversed a determination of guilt because the petitioner was removed from the hearing without sufficient justification:

“An inmate has a fundamental right to be present during a prison disciplinary hearing unless he or she is excluded for reasons of institutional safety or correctional goals” … .  Petitioner here was first warned that he could be removed from the hearing after he attempted to suggest questions for a witness he had requested who claimed to have been threatened and refused to testify.  The Hearing Officer then invited petitioner to explain his defense, namely, that the author of the misbehavior report had set him up after they had sexual contact.  Petitioner referred to the officer by her first name, prompting the Hearing Officer to direct him to refrain from doing so.  Petitioner then attempted to explain – despite the Hearing Officer’s repeated interruptions – that the officer “told me to call her” by her first name and that such was “the only way” he could accurately describe what had occurred.  Instead of allowing petitioner to explain further or present his account of events, however, the Hearing Officer abruptly cut petitioner off and removed him from the hearing.  Even if petitioner’s conduct could legitimately be viewed as indecorous or disrespectful, “our review of the record reveals no evidence that [it] rose to the level of disruption that justified his exclusion from the proceedings”… . Matter of Watson v Fischer, 515197, 3rd Dept 9-19-13